Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

When selected for the first time, the login window for each network will appear as shown below. By selecting both of the ‘Remember’ checkboxes, Ortsbo will remember your username and password for each network for the future. Your login information is stored securely on your own PC.

Additionally for each chat network you will need to select your preferred language. The preferred language is the language you will see all incoming chat messages, regardless of the language they originated in.

While logged in, a color indicator will display next to each of your contacts indicating their status. In addition, you may select these status options to set your status on the network. These color based statuses are harmonized across all chat networks.

Once you are logged in, the sign out option will log you off the chat service that the control bar is associated with. Clicking on the icon above will log you back in to the network.

Ortsbo Chat works with 13 of today’s most popular social media platforms including Windows Live Messenger, Facebook, Google Talk, Twitter, Tencent QQ, Yahoo! Messenger, iChat, AIM, ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, Lotus Sametime, LiveJournal, and Nokia Ovi.

Yes, once you have provided Ortsbo with the login information you may choose to have this information remembered for future usage.

Yes, your login information is stored securely on your own PC.

Yes, but you will first need to create an account with the service you want to use.

Visit the following links to create an account:

When you first connect an account, a default preferred language will be set for you, which you can change. The preferred language is the language you will see in all incoming chat messages, regardless of the language they originated in.

Yes, this option is always available to you.

When you log into the network, you set your preferred language. In addition you may select a default language for each of your contacts. If your contact is using Ortsbo, they will have their own preferred language and this step is not required. However it is a good practice to set this language as users that are not using Ortsbo Global Chat will not have translation options available. By setting the translation language for your contacts, even if they are not using Ortsbo, they will still see all of your messages in the language you select for them.

Certain networks have their own requirements:

MSN Live Messenger

In order to connect to the MSN Live Messenger you will need to create a personal Live Passport account. If you do not have a Live Passport account, you can download the MSN Live Messenger chat client and follow the steps to create your account. You will have the option of using an existing email account as your passport account (i.e. test@test.com) or you can have a Hotmail account created for you (free of charge) which will act as your Passport account. It is important that you record the username and password selected as this information is required to connect to the MSN network. You may find the information you require at the following website http://explore.live.com/

Facebook

If you do not have a Facebook account, simply signup at www.facebook.com free of charge.

Note that in order to use your Facebook account with Ortsbo Global Chat, a Facebook username is required. This is different than the email address you use to log in to www.facebook.com. To view or create your Facebook username, do the following:

Google Talk

In order to connect to the Google Talk network, you will require a Google Talk account and password. If you do not have a Google Talk or Gmail account you can sign up at the following website http://www.google.com/talk/about.html. You can select a username/email address (i.e. test@gmail.com) and you will select a private password for the chat network. Please retain this information as you will require it when connecting to the Google Talk network from the Ortsbo client.

Facebook ID’s are in a slightly different format. Username@chat.Facebook.com, and the password is your normal Facebook password. If you still cannot login to your Facebook account, please contact Facebook customer assistance.

Once you have signed into one or more networks, the main Ortsbo Chat interface will populate with your contacts, grouped by chat network and any groups you have setup in those networks. Each network is represented by a control bar at the top of the contact window. You may dropdown the control bar to see the options for each network. You may toggle the control bars for each network by clicking on the network icon above again, as you did when logging on to the network.

With the ‘Sign Out’ option, you will be logged off your chat service, and signing in will log you right back in. With ‘Appear Offline’, you may see who else is online, and also chat with them, but they won’t be able to see that you’re online.

While logged in, a color indicator will display next to each of your contacts indicating their status. In addition, you may select these status options to set your status on the network. These color based statuses are harmonized across all chat networks.

In the event that you want to block a contact from detecting your presence online, you have the option of blocking individual users.

Yes, you may select a default language for each of your contacts. If your contact is using Ortsbo, they will have their own preferred language and this step is not required. However it is a good practice to set this language as users that are not using Ortsbo Chat will not have translation options available. By setting the translation language for your contacts, even if they are not using Ortsbo, they will still see all of your messages in the language you select for them.

At this moment, Ortsbo supports over 50 languages. In time, we hope to have more languages supported to best suit you.

This is not currently available.

Double check your username and password by contacting your chat network for your password and username. If the problem still persists contact our customer assistance.

You will have to contact the network directly to change your user name or password.

When you sign onto more than one chat network, they will all be displayed in the same window! Just keep scrolling, and the contacts and groups will be shown.